Simple & Delicious Recipes

Tag Archives: fall desserts

My kids love to eat any kind of pears ever since they were little, Anjou, Barlett, or Asian. Pears are all very sweet and tasty no matter how you eat them. You can enjoy them raw, cook, bake, poach, etc. They are also a good source of fibre and vitamin C. It’s pretty hard not to love them ! Fall is the season for pears, so I used some Barlett pears and made this Spiced Pear Tart. I spiced up a basic short crust for the tart shell. The dough freezes well, so you can make it ahead of time. It can also turn into yummy cookies ! So don’t throw away the trimmings after you make the tarts. Just gather them together, roll it, cut it with cookie cutters and bake for 8-10 minutes at 350°F ! I baked mine into leaves and used them as garnish ! You can adjust the amount of spices used according to your taste, both in the tart shell and the fillings. I actually would prefer a bit spicier, but my daughter said this is perfect for her palate. Well, I have to listen to my little boss ! The tarts taste delicious on their own, but my little boss likes them with vanilla ice cream, even better !

Makes four 4-inch tarts or eight 2-inch mini tarts

For the tart shell

120 g cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

75 g granulated sugar

2 egg yolks

180 g cake and pastry flour

3 g ground ginger

2 g ground cinnamon

Pinch of cloves

Pinch of nutmeg

For the fillings

About 3-4 pears (wash, peel, core and cut into chunks)

60 g brown sugar

3 g ground ginger

3 g ground cinnamon

5 mL pure vanilla extract

For the crust

60 g quick oats

30 g all-purpose flour

30 g brown sugar

30 g unsalted butter, melted

To make the tart shells, sift together flour and spices

Mix together cold butter and sugar using a wooden spoon until blended

Mix in egg yolks

Add flour mixture all at once, mix, then transfer onto a surface and gently knead dough together until everything just combined

Wrap with plastic wrap, refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours or overnight

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350ºF

Knead dough until pliable

Roll dough out to about 1/8 inch in thickness on a floured surface, dock with a fork

October is a busy baking month for me. Thanksgiving, my daughter’s birthday, bake sale, Halloween…. all of them are happening this month. I am not complaining, in fact, I am enjoying it . Apples, pumpkins, corn, the spices, the Halloween decorations ….the aroma, the colours, the fun, I love them all ! For this Thanksgiving, I made a pumpkin cheesecake topped with maple caramel sauce. It is crunchy, creamy, sweet and a little spicy…..just delicious ! And it’s fairly easy to make ! It’s a great alternative to pumpkin pie.

Can’t believe fall is already here ! I love fall, I love the colours and all the tasty goodies…..apple pies, apple cider, pumpkin pies, pumpkin spice latte, squash soup, etc. And of course the Halloween candies ! Hey, candies are not just for kids, for adults too……OK, Let’s get back to the pie first !

Makes two 4+1/2 inch pies

For the crust

1+1/2 cup (225g) pastry flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

100 g unsalted butter, diced and chilled

110-120 mL cold water

Mix flour and salt

Using a pastry cutter or 2 forks, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs, butter chunks should be about the size of a pea

Add cold water, mix gently

Transfer onto a floured work surface and press dough together to form a ball (Do not knead, dough should contain lumps of butter)

Cut dough in half, wrap each one tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours or overnight

In order to make a flaky pie crust, your butter and water has to be cold, very cold. This will prevent the butter from melting when you are working with the dough. When the pie is baked, the butter will melt, water inside the butter will evaporate giving its flaky texture. I used all butter because I love the flavour. You can use half butter, half shortening to make the pie more tender but shortening doesn’t have any flavour. So, it’s your choice.

For the fillings

2 apples

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 + 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

pinch of salt

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of lemon zest

Wash, peel and core apples. Cut into slices or chunks

Mix apples with all other ingredients

To make the pie

Preheat oven to 380 ºF

On a floured work surface, roll and flatten 2/3 of one dough to fit pie tin

Fill with apple fillings

Brush rims with water

Roll the other 1/3 of the dough to make top of pie, trim and decorate, leaving at least one hole on top to vent

Brush top with melted butter

Bake for about 45 minutes

This is a modified recipe from the one I learned at my pastry course. Original recipe by Chef Marco at Pastry Training Centre of Vancouver

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